Computers in U.S. and Malaysia

In this assignment, I will express all my thoughts about computers’ marketing techniques in the United States and Malaysia. Personally, I am interested in technology items like computers and cell phones. I really like looking through computer brochures, talking to friends about their opinions on computers and browsing the internet to check the newest and updated specifications, price etc. I find this topic interesting because I always fancy having the computer with the best performance. But I know that with current advanced and fast-paced technology, there are no best products as computer companies keep coming up with new products. Therefore, the discussion about current trend of computers will never be outdated. However, my observation does not include Macintosh and its functions. I will be discussing the Windows computer (desktop and laptop).

In general, computers are electronic devices that contains all of the following features, such as computing, source of entertainment, designing, engineering, information searching, doing business (databases), communicating online etc; no other electronic devices (cell phones, PDA etc) will be able to compete with that. These kinds of features are expected by many consumers nowadays. But what I am curious about are the reasons computer companies compete with each other - their specifications and services. These features are distinguished by branding. Most users do prefer higher performance computers that will be able to enhance the features mentioned above. Consumers are interested in looking for a computer which has the best price for the best specifications. In addition, computers can be classified as business to business goods and business to consumer goods. Honestly I do not really know much about how organizations market their products to other organizations. The main focus is on business to consumer goods side of marketing.

Let’s begin with the 4 Ps: Product, price, promotion, and place. Each brand has its unique product or service. HP (Hewlett-Packard) is famous for their high quality of products (not many defects that I know of from friends) and good service in the United States. Dell computers have high quality products too. As for price, Toshiba products are always pricier than HP and Dell with the same specifications (this holds true for both countries). In terms of promotion, most of the computer companies promote their products aggressively in order to achieve competitive advantage. Promotions like discounts and rebates are common for computing industry. Finally, not many stores have a variety of computers available for purchase because all of the information can be found on the internet. I have observed that the common brands most people use in the U.S. are HP and Dell computers.

If we examine the information from another country like Malaysia, how do the common brands, promotions, and price compare? Will the information for each brand match? The answer is “no”. It is not always the same, in fact, they differ significantly. In Malaysia, most users use computers manufactured by Acer and Dell. HP is not a common product. There is only a significant amount of people using it. Compaq, which is a brand bought over by HP, has acquired more users than HP itself. I was surprised by the fact that I have never observed any student here in U.S. having an Acer or Compaq computer. However, the products offered are the same as the ones in U.S. In terms of services, in general, all the services offered are worse than in the U.S. For example if your product is damaged and you want to use the warranty offered, you will never get your product back unless you urge them! My friend has a very old computer and he sent it the factory for repair (I forgot what was brand of the computer). His computer never came back despite months of waiting for it. The customer service of that particular brand never made any effort to contact the owner. In this case, my friend was not a frequent user of his computer, therefore, he never really took the pains to urge them for the return of it. In the computing industry, the customer service rating is always poor due to the culture of Malaysia: lazy attitude of employees.

In terms of pricing, if it is adjusted to U.S. currency, with the same product and same specifications, the computer prices in Malaysia is slightly higher. I am someone who is very interested in computer brochures; it leads me to be able to identify the price easily. I bought a laptop computer of HP in U.S. recently. It costs me about $740 including tax which is equivalent to around $1000 for the same product in Malaysia. One good thing in Malaysia is that there are no sales taxes or any other kinds of taxes imposed on any product. But still, the price is higher than after-tax computer products in U.S.

Next, you can see a lot of promotions going on in U.S. because of the strong competition within the computing industry. However, there are not many promotions for computers in Malaysia. The only grand promotion is during P.C. Fair which is an event that sells cheaper all sorts of electronics products. It is hosted once every 4 months in a few selected cities throughout the whole Malaysia. They do sell slightly cheaper electronics products in the event. During the event, everyone will glue together in a very crowded hall to purchase or survey the electronics products that they want. However, one thing that I have noticed is that, the electronics price after the fair will be lowered to equivalent to the price stated in the P.C. fair. Thus, there are differences in promotion in these 2 countries.

Place is the most interesting part of this 4Ps. As we all know that Malaysia is not as advanced technology compared to U.S., meaning we cannot just purchase the product online. The buying (Just-in-time) online technology has just being implemented recently for computers. Malaysians do not used to purchase it online; there is no Amazon.com, J&R.com, e-Bay.com and so on. Thus, in every mall in Malaysia, there is a huge section available on electronics products, or a few stores of each computer brand (HP, Dell, Acer and so on). However, only a small number of buyers buy online. Thus, distribution is an important form of marketing strategy. Those are the only places for buyers to purchase their computers.

Let’s move on to branding. The purpose of branding is to create brand equity which defined as added value a given brand name gives to a product beyond the functional benefits provided. It exists to provide competitive advantage and consumers are willing to pay a higher price for it. This marketing strategy I believe is strongly related to customer service. A question arises: How will the brands in Malaysia achieve brand equity if Malaysia has such a poor customer service compared to U.S? In U.S, if you have a computer that is defective, and you want to claim the warranty, you would call their customer service center and they will be able to direct clear-cut instructions and deliver your computer in around two weeks. In Malaysia, people usually do not claim for warranty and they are willing to pay for labor fees to repair their computers because it takes so long for them to wait if they were to claim for warranty. If only one brand could achieve excellent customer service, it will dominate the computing industry in Malaysia. Customer service is so important in all aspects of marketing whether is the product branded or not.

Different computer brand has different levels of prestige. Prestige of Windows computers in U.S. is more complex than it is due to the popularity of Macintosh. To simplify, in U.S., Toshiba (higher price with the same specification) and HP (excellent customer service) have higher prestige than Dell, Sony, Twinhead, Gateway, Ben-Q and many more. In contrast, Sony or Toshiba in Malaysia have a very high level of prestige. HP has a good reputation too. Note that I mentioned customer service for all brands has very poor ratings. Differences in branding will only differ a little in terms of customer service, brands with higher prestige have slightly better customer service. I have a friend who owns a HP laptop in Malaysia. Her laptop was broken down due to some reasons and was sent to HP repair center. The employee promised said that they will need 1 week to check out the laptop. However, after a week and a half, the employee never contacted my friend; my friend will have to call them instead. Further, the employee said that their technicians need another week to repair it, but they took 4 to 5 weeks to complete the process and caused a lot of inconveniences. During the process, my friend’s mum called the customer service and scolded them for several times. Otherwise, I am afraid that the process will take forever. Prestige in branding, in Malaysia, differs in terms of pricing, not service.

Next about purchase decision processes, both countries encounter the exact same 5 steps in the process in purchasing a computer. They include all 5 steps in purchasing processes: problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior as they are high involvement products. Firstly, consumers are needed to perceive a need to purchase a computer. Without a need, no consumers in any country would want to purchase a highly expensive product. Secondly, they need to do some form of research in order to get the product they want; information such as proper specification and design of the particular computer that they would desire. Thirdly, all consumers would need to access evaluative criteria that are the objective attributes of a brand (performance) and the subjective ones (prestige) to compare different brands. Consumers in U.S. have would like to evaluate brands like HP and Dell; whereas consumers in Malaysia would like to evaluate brands like Acer and Dell. Toshiba and Sony are not worth buying because they are really expensive (too high in prestige but less attributes). Fourthly, in purchasing decision, usually U.S. consumers would purchase it online and Malaysia consumers would purchase it the stores. In U.S., consumers can find the lowest price online; in Malaysia, there is only 1 place which sells the cheapest computers throughout the whole country, it is called Low-Yat Plaza where all Malaysians are familiar with the place. Lastly, after buying the product, consumers will often feel cognitive dissonance if they heard that they product brand is actually inferior to the other. In fact, who would not feel the same way if they have spent so much on their asset? Well, unless they want only the computer to perform basic features.

In conclusion, there are a few distinctions the marketing techniques among the computers companies in U.S. and in Malaysia. Their major differences are due to the technology involved and customer service. They play a very important role in marketing. Malaysia is far behind the trend of United States.